By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
The Fort Hays State men’s track and field team claimed five individual first place finishes in their lone home meet of the season, the Alex Francis Classic. The event, which was moved up one day due to impending weather, was held in Hays and was the second outdoor meet of the season for the men.
On the day, five Tigers finished in the top position in their events. Philip Landrum, who is coming off his indoor nationals appearance, finished in first in the 100-meters with a time of 12.37. In the 800-meters, Brett Meyer earned the top spot with a time of 1:54.24. In three field events the Tigers earned their high finish. Kolt Newell won his second-straight high jump event with a height of 6 feet, 6 inches, and Sam Dreiling earned his win in the pole vault with his mark of 16 feet, 4 inches. Cameron Fouts rounded out the top finishes for FHSU with his winning javelin throw of 184 feet, 9 inches.
Besides the first place finishes, the Tigers held their own on their home track as many ran away with top-ten finishes. In the 200-meters, Malcom Gardner finishes in the runner up position at 21.51, followed in fourth place by Brayden Soza at 22.25. Shane Finegan claimed ninth in the 400-meters with a time of 52.89, and Alex Barbosa finished in eighth place in the 800-meters at 1:59.91. Barbosa also earned a fifth place finish in the 1,500-meters with his time of 4:10.10.
In the 5,000-meters, Layton Werth ended in third place at 15:14.60, with Reed Rome coming in fourth (15:19.58), Israel Barco in sixth (15:38.35) and Kaleb Crum in ninth place (15:59.05). Sabino Medrano earned a fifth place finish in the 110-meter hurdles at 15.53 and Matthew Pieper finish in the top ten in tenth place at 16.40. In the extended version of the hurdles in the 400-meters, Pieper finished in fourth with a time of 58.23, followed by Medrano in fifth place with his time of 1:01.27.
Robert Loeffler earned a fourth place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with his mark of 10:18.62, as Peter Franklin earned fifth at 10:21.34 and Christopher Nemechek finishing in seventh with a time of 10:51.92. In relay runs, the quad of Soza, Landrum, Gardner and Adrian Soto finished in second place in the 4×100 with a time of 42.72. Four groups finished in the top-ten in the 4×400 version of the relays, including a second place finish by Gardner, Soto, Pieper and Jake Faerber with a time of 3:30.22.
Moving to field events, the Tigers were able to earn strong finishes throughout the remainder of the events. In the high jump, Lucas Broxterman finished in second place with his mark of 6 feet, 2 inches and Blayne Godshall earned a sixth place finish at 5 feet, 10 inches. In the pole vault, four other Tigers behind Dreiling placed well, led by Mark Faber in second at 15 feet, 3 inches. Ryan Stanely came in fourth (14 feet, 9 inches), Jonathan Ball in sixth (14 feet, 3 inches) and Brandon Ball (13 feet, 9 inches) all achieved strong marks at home.
Broxterman added a ninth place finish in the long jump to his day after jumping a mark of 21 feet, 9 inches. In the shot put, Gilbert Peters earned fifth place with a throw of 48 feet, 10 inches and Sam Garrison finished in sixth with his 48 feet, 4 inch performance. Peters added a fifth place finish in the discus with a throw of 149 feet, 10 inches, followed by Jacob Gaughan in seventh with a throw of 146 feet, 5 inches and Sam Garrison in ninth at 135 feet, 11 inches.
Rounding out the day for the Tigers was an eighth place finish in the hammer throw for Hunter DeGarmo with a distance of 152 feet, 2 inches, and a sixth place finish in the javelin by Trey Teeter with a throw of 162 feet, 4 inches.
The Tigers are back in action next Saturday (April 6) as they travel west to compete in the Colorado Invitational in Boulder, Colo.